Australian Curriculum Year 4 History Sample Assessment

First contacts: A First Fleet story

© The State of Queensland (Queensland Studies Authority) and its licensors 2013. All web links correct at time of publication.
Assessment description Category
Students use historical sources to research the Written
life of an individual explorer, settler, convict or
soldier before and after their arrival on the First Technique
Fleet. They then develop a historical narrative Research
that explains how life has changed and/or
stayed the same in Australia.
Context for assessment Alignment

Students pose questions and use historical Australian Curriculum v4.0,

sources to investigate key people who arrived www.australiancurriculum.edu.au,
on the First Fleet, the reasons for the journey ACARA — Australian Curriculum, Assessment
and experiences before and after their arrival. and Reporting Authority
They analyse and explain their findings in a text
such as a personal letter, diary, annotated Connections
photo album or newspaper article.
This assessment can be used with the QSA
Australian Curriculum resource titled
Year 4 unit overview — History exemplar
(Investigating exploration and the
movement of peoples), available at:
www.qsa.qld.edu.au/downloads/aust_curric/
ac_yr4_history_year_plan.doc

Definitions
Within this assessment, a narrative about the past is
a retell of a sequence of real events that is related to
the passing of time.

In this assessment
Teacher guidelines
Student booklet
Task-specific standard: Continua
Task-specific standard: Matrix
Assessment resource: Historical inquiry process
Assessment resource: Question starter grid
Assessment resource: Questioning sources

Assessment resource: First Fleet story: Comparing life before and after the arrival in Australia

Assessment resource: Sample historical narrative

Australian Curriculum
First contacts: A First Fleet story Teacher guidelines
Year 4 History
Teacher guidelines
Identify curriculum
Content descriptions to be taught
Historical Knowledge and Understanding Historical Skills
First Contacts Chronology, terms and concepts
Stories of the First Fleet, including reasons for  Sequence historical people and events
the journey, who travelled to Australia, and their ACHHS081
experiences following arrival ACHHK079  Use historical terms ACHHS082
Historical questions and research
 Pose a range of questions about the past
ACHHS083
Analysis and use of sources
 Locate relevant information from sources
provided ACHHS084
Explanation and communication
 Develop texts, particularly narratives
ACHHS086
 Use a range of communication forms (oral,
graphic, written) and digital technologies
ACHHS087

General capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities

Literacy
Numeracy
Intercultural understanding
ICT capability
Critical and creative thinking
Intercultural understanding
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures

Achievement standard
By the end of Year 4, students explain how and why life changed in the past, and identify aspects
of the past that remained the same. They describe the experiences of an individual or group over
time. They recognise the significance of events in bringing about change.
Students sequence events and people (their lifetime) in chronological order to identify key dates.
They pose a range of questions about the past. They identify sources (written, physical, visual,
oral), and locate information to answer these questions. They recognise different points of view.
Students develop and present texts, including narratives, using historical terms.
Source: ACARA, The Australian Curriculum v 4.0, www.australiancurriculum.edu.au

Australian Curriculum
First contacts: A First Fleet story Teacher guidelines
Year 4 History
Sequence learning
Suggested learning experiences
Refer to learning experiences in Year 4 unit overview — History exemplar (Investigating
exploration and the movement of peoples), available at:
 www.qsa.qld.edu.au/downloads/aust_curric/ac_yr4_history_year_plan.doc
Adjustments for needs of learners
Section 6 of the Disability Standards for Education (The Standards for Curriculum Development,
Accreditation and Delivery) states that education providers, including class teachers, must take
reasonable steps to ensure a course/program is designed to allow any child to participate and
experience success in learning.
The Disability Standards for Education 2005 (Cwlth) is available from www.ag.gov.au.
Resources
Websites
 First Fleet — resources from University of Wollongong, including a searchable database of the
First Fleet convicts: http://firstfleet.uow.edu.au
 Convict records: www.convictrecords.com.au/convicts/year/1787
 The First Fleet, resources from the State Library of New South Wales, including first-hand
accounts of the experiences of some of those who travelled south to Botany Bay:
www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_collections/history_nation/terra_australis/firstfleet.html
 The First Fleeters: Biographical and historial resources from the State Library of New South
Wales: www.sl.nsw.gov.au/research_guides/convicts/information/first_fleet.html
 Prison hulks on the River Thames, from the collections of Royal Museums Greenwich:
www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.56/chapterId/414/Prison-hulks-on-the-
River-Thames.html
 Convict women, Perth Dead Persons’ Society, Convicts to Australia project:
www.members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/convicts/confem.html
 William Hubbard: First Fleet convict — a sample case study, collated by Hubbard First Fleet
Group: www.firstfleet.org.au
 National Library Archives: www.nla.gov.au/australiana/australian-history-selected-websites
 List of provisions, by the First Fleet Fellowship: http://home.vicnet.net.au/firstff/ships.htm
 Picture Australia, Trove, National Library of Australia: www.pictureaustralia.org
 Background sheets, Board of Studies NSW, K–6 Educational resources:
http://k6.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/go/hsie/background-sheets
 Bound for Botany Bay, TLF R1159, Scootle (subscription access only):
www.scootle.edu.au/ec/viewing/R11591/index.html
Print
 Hill, D 2008, 1788: The brutal truth of the First Fleet — the biggest single overseas migration
the world had ever seen, North Sydney, Heinemann.
 Alexander, G 2006, Surviving Sydney Cove: The diary of Elizabeth Harvey, Scholastic, NSW.
 French, J 2004, Tom Appleby, Convict Boy, HarperCollins, Sydney.
 Walker, K 1988, The Letters of Rosie O’Brien: A convict in the colony of New South Wales,
1804, Martin Educational, NSW.
Other resources
 Donner, C (dir) 1982, Oliver Twist (film, rated PG), Claridge Productions, UK.
 Reed, C (dir) 1968, Oliver! (film, rated G), Romulus Films, UK.
 Gross, Y (dir) 1979, The Little Convict, (film, rated G), Yoram Gross Films, Australia.

Australian Curriculum
First contacts: A First Fleet story Teacher guidelines
Year 4 History
Develop assessment
Implementing
Section 1. Planning and posing questions
Student role Teacher role
 Examine historical sources about the First  Identify the process of a historical inquiry
Fleet, with particular focus on the undertaken to understand the past. Refer to
experiences of different groups of people Assessment resource: Historical inquiry
such as settlers, convicts, soldiers and process to identify the steps in the inquiry
explorers. process including posing questions, locating
 Review key historical terms such as colony, and analysing sources, and using evidence
felon, transportation and navigator. from sources to develop an explanation
about the past.
 Review the historical concepts of continuity
and change, causes and effects,  Support students to view a range of
significance, perspectives, empathy and relevant sources (see Resources),
sources. identifying sources that will support their
inquiry and provide general information
 Select an individual from the First Fleet to
about the First Fleet, and conditions in
investigate after ensuring that there is a
England before arrival and in Australia after
range of source material available.
arrival.
 Pose a set of relevant questions that will
 Support students to develop a set of
help answer the key inquiry questions:
relevant questions using Assessment
– What was life like before they came to resource: Question starter grid as a support
Australia? for posing questions.
– Why did they come here?  Examine the historical sources using the
– How was life different after they arrived questions in Assessment resource:
here and how was it similar? Questioning sources to review questions
and sign approval before each student
proceeds with their inquiry.
Section 2. Locating sources
Student role Teacher role
 Locate a range of primary and secondary  Discuss types of historical sources with
sources about their chosen First Fleet students, providing students with a selection
person and record the details about the of relevant sources.
sources in the table. Check on the suitability  Conference with students and provide
of sources with the teacher. support with locating primary and secondary
 Make changes to their questions if required. sources and documenting relevant
information.
 Encourage students to make changes to
research questions as required.
Section 3. Answering questions
Student role Teacher role
 Use sources to find information and record it  Examine the sources using the questions in
in note form in the table. Assessment resource: Questioning sources.
 Analyse sources to compare and contrast  Sign approval when they have compiled
life before and after arrival in Australia. sufficient relevant information to answer the
 Check there is sufficient evidence from key inquiry questions.
sources to answer the questions and make
revisions as required.

Australian Curriculum
First contacts: A First Fleet story Teacher guidelines
Year 4 History
 Section 4. Developing a historical narrative
Student role Teacher role
 Complete the Developing a historical  Set guidelines for the text type to be used.
narrative checklist to follow the stages of the This may be common for all students or
inquiry process. open to individual choice, and may include a
 Develop a historical narrative 200–400 letter, diary, annotated photo album, or
words in length. newspaper article.
 Provide students with a Venn diagram to
organise ideas to compare and contrast as
required. See Assessment resource: First
Fleet story — Comparing life before and
after the arrival in Australia for a model of
this.
 Compare different kinds of texts that provide
historical information, e.g. written narratives,
websites, museum labels, timelines,
annotated image sets. See Assessment
resource: Sample historical narrative for a
model of a historical narrative.

Make judgments
The following table identifies the valued features of this assessment. It makes explicit the
demonstrations of understandings and skills as identified in the Australian Curriculum Achievement
Standard and the Queensland Standards Elaborations for History.
A continua and matrix model of the Task-specific standards is provided for this assessment using the
same valued features. Each model of a task-specific standard uses task-specific descriptors to identify
the discernable differences in student work for A–E standards.

Dimensions Valued features Task-specific valued features

Understanding Historical Knowledge and First Contacts
Understanding Identifies the reasons for the journey of a
member of the First Fleet and the
experiences of life before and after the
arrival in Australia.

Skills Historical Questioning and Historical questions and research

Skills researching Poses a range of questions about the past
and locates relevant information from
historical sources provided.

Analysing and Analysis and use of sources

interpreting Uses historical sources to respond to
inquiry questions.

Communicating Explanation and communication

Develops a historical narrative using
historical terms and concepts.
Chronology, terms and concepts
Sequences historical people and events.

Australian Curriculum
First contacts: A First Fleet story Teacher guidelines
Year 4 History
Australian Curriculum
First contacts: A First Fleet story Teacher guidelines
Year 4 History
Use feedback
Feedback to Evaluate the information gathered from the assessment to inform teaching and
students learning strategies. Focus feedback on the student’s personal progress and the
next steps in the learning journey.
Offer feedback that:
 discusses the students’ success with the inquiry and narrative:
– Were the sources used helpful?
– How useful were your questions?
– How did students use questions in the investigation?
– How well did students develop a comparison?
– Were historical terms and concepts used appropriately?
– Were the key inquiry questions answered using evidence from
sources?
 focuses feedback on the student’s personal progress and the next
steps for improvement
 identifies steps in the inquiry process that need consolidation in
teaching and learning and make adjustments to future planning
 deconstructs a quality student response to identify the elements of a
successful historical inquiry and discuss these features with students.

Resources For guidance on providing feedback, see the professional development

packages titled Seeking and providing feedback:
www.qsa.qld.edu.au/18076.html.

Australian Curriculum
First contacts: A First Fleet story Teacher guidelines
Year 4 History